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A rare bumblebee which has seen its numbers decline rapidly across Southern England in the past 100 years has been spotted in East London as part of a project funded by The Co-operative’s Plan Bee campaign.

The Shrill Carder, Bombus Sylvarum bumblee.

The Shrill Carder, Bombus Sylvarum, one of the UK’s most threatened bumblebees with just six or seven populations in England and Wales, was seen last month at the Crossness sewage works, Thamesmead, a Thames Water site.

It was thought that there maybe a colony in the Thames Gateway but limited to the North Kent and South Essex coast, so experts were surprised to see this species at a site so close to central London.